wutheringheights

Satapada... Satapada… Satapada…’’ Tourist officer Bijaya Kumar Jena passes wireless messages to the boatmen onboard cruising on Chilika Lake. Sitting in his office at Yatri Nivas in Satapada, he instructs a particular boatman to reach the jetty immediately. “Sir, another half an hour, please bear with us,” Bijaya tells me, turning off the wireless set. I wait at his desk, glancing through some brochures and maps of Chilika, the largest brackish water lagoon on the East coast of India. A gentleman walks in and hands over another brochure, this one with a dolphin’s picture on the front page. “What would you like to have for lunch, sir?” a man in uniform asks me. It’s hardly 11, and I’m not hungry. I look at Bijaya. “You have to place your order in advance. The cruise will take three hours. Once you come back, you will be hungry,” Bijaya explains. What should I order? “Try our crab and prawn. Everything we get here is fresh,” says the man in uniform. We walk to the jetty; on the way, I se